Henlys Group

Frank Hough (1888-1935) —who also had his own motor business in Walsall which he'd started in 1909— and Herbert Gerald Henly (1891-1973) began business in 1917 as car dealers at 89 Great Portland Street, London. When their private company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 they claimed to have one of the largest retail motor organisations in the country. It carried on business in London and Manchester dealing in "new and second hand cars of all descriptions".[1][2] Showrooms and petrol stations gave the Henlys name to Henlys Corner, the junction of the North Circular Road, A1 and Finchley Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb and to Henlys Roundabout at the start of the A30 ( at the A4 ) at Hounslow West / Cranford. The business's scale may be gauged by the chairman's catalogue of their wartime activities given to shareholders in January 1946: assembly of 25,000 army vehicles of all types, repairs and maintenance of all types of service vehicles. In addition providing nearly 250,000 tank and aircraft assemblies and parts, repair or dismantling of 1,000 aircraft, handling over 80,000 tanks and packing more than a million spare parts. In 1946 Henlys distributed Armstrong Siddeley, Austin, Bentley, Jaguar, Riley, Rolls-Royce and Rover cars along with Studebaker vehicles for the whole of England and those of the Willys Overland Corporation including their famous Jeep.[3] When Herbert Henly died in 1973 a brief obituary in The Times reported the business he had helped found now runs 110 petrol stations, works departments and showrooms throughout Britain.[4]

Henlys expanded by natural growth and by acquisition of major competitors. By 1981 car sales and profits were down. Aside from the British Leyland brands Henlys distributed Ford, Renault and Talbot. By 1984 takeover bids were in the air.[5] In August 1984 Michael Ashcroft's Midepsa subsidiary, Coleman Milne, reported it held 59.8 per cent of Henly's shares.[6]

Henlys was bought by the Lord Ashcroft backed Hawley Goodall, owners of Coleman Milne, the makers of funeral hearses. The bid was made via a Canadian-based company part-owned by David Wickins of British Car Auctions. On completion of the takeover, Hawley Goodall formed a Motoring Division comprising Henlys and Coleman Milne. In 1989, Hawley Goodall sold its Motoring Division consisting of Henlys and Coleman Milne to the Plaxton Group, the bus and coach manufacturer based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. In May 1992, the Plaxton Group PLC was renamed Henlys Group PLC. Coleman Milne was sold to a management buy-out in late 1992.

Henlys pursued a strategy of diversification and expansion through the 1990s. The established Wigan bus bodybuilder Northern Counties was bought in 1995 for £10 million. The UK bus and coach manufacturing business, trading under the Plaxton brand, continued to produce a range of bus and coach bodywork. It also owned one of the largest UK coach dealers, Kirkby, and provided after-sales services to coach and bus operators.

In May 2004 a new chairman, David James, was appointed to help rescue Henlys. In June 2004 it was announced that a restructuring of Henlys would leave the shares with little or no value, and that Henlys' problems were caused by paying too high a price for the Blue Bird business in 1999. Henlys' shares were delisted from the Stock Exchange.[13]

In October 2004 the Blue Bird operations were restructured with Volvo and creditor banks taking over the Henlys share. Volvo also took over the Prevost and Nova Bus operations.

Henlys Group Limited was wound down over the course of 2004 and early 2005.

• Plaxton
• Northern Counties Motor & Engineering Company
• Dennis Specialist Vehicles
• Walter Alexander Coachbuilders
• Prévost Car
• TransBus International
• Nova Bus